"Let him mature the strength of his imagination among the things of this earth," Joseph Conrad

07/22/2006

I went home to Durham this weekend and joined my parents at a classics in the park event. My dad loves the patriotism and enjoyed goading my tender Guardianista sensibilities.

It was held at Gibside Hall, which is close to where my grandma used to live and only about 20 mins drive from my parents house in Lanchester.

I enjoyed it and particularly liked the people who brought candlelabras for their picnic tables. I liked Intermezzo and Nimrod.

I was, though, a little perturbed by the fact that it felt a little bit like a Klu Klux Klan rally. I was told there was one black person there, but I never saw anyone who was not white (to be fair the local demographic is pretty white).

I did make the point that a lot of the songs early on were Italian or other hues of Johnny Foreigner before it swung into Last Night of the Proms mode. The fireworks were pretty good.